Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-03-05
4 FIPI,tL sdtatCI IER.

.carce feature In society. He is quit
,revalent, and As noisy and persistent a
PREVALENT. Sometimes he belongs to on
party. and sometimes to another. 1t is oc
,asionally possible To find a man of this kim
in the republican party but wherever such an
one is found he is sure to be Jonah thal
needs to be east overheard to save the ship.
Ii Is not difficult to find persons of this sori
among the democrats. The are but few
among the prohibtionsts, for there are but
few prohhitonists, but We think we could
pick out specimen of this va
riety in the prohibition ranks.
He is found an the platform.
in journalism, and occasionally in
the pulpit. Whenever he is, he is blatant.
Drazen and offensive in the utterance ot
what he fatters himself are his opinions.
which are at best Tor worst those of some
Body else. warmed over and mangled IN
the transfer from the brain OF the originator
TO the intestines of the appropriation.
This character is no strange or new per
,onage. He has been seen before. Solo
non knew him, and said of him; '.Sees'
thou a man wise in his own conceit? ther,
5 more hope of a fool than of him." And
Shakespeare knew him and gave his mental
portrait i'm the passage: Il am Sir Oracle.
When Ope my mouth let no dog bark.
So we see that this smart, Self-Suflicient
and offensive mental muZZle- loader and
Observation-Disclosures has beeh laundering him
self down the ages. offending the eyes and
ears of all the peoples of history. of all
races and climates, and wrecking all the
causes and interests which have been placed
in his keeping, or. rather. all causes, of
which he has falsely assumed 10 he the
father and the exponent
This sort Of person is a mugwump in the
single feature of assuming superior wisdom
and virtue. He does not wish to go il
alone" but when he has made up what he
fondly suppo>es to be his able mind. and
the smaller and more impotent his mental
capacity. the less time it takes to make it
UP, he fires himself at the world and then
holds his rotten. unpleasant breath until the
world cocks its eye and inc!ines its ear at
him. If the world is little slow in getting
into an attitude Of attention or obedience
to his commands. he begins to repeat him
self in more dictatOrial terms. Sir Oracle
declares: Il have made up my mind lh
on this thing and now you ordinary fellows
must fall in, in two ranks. and march at
my orders. ! am the manufacturer of
opinions and | must get my goods on the
market. They We're made for the masses
of the common people, and will have no
kicking. resent all differences in opinion
from my standard and concerning my
plans"
This sort of thing might do for the EN-
peror William and Bismarck. in Germany,
OF for the ear in Russia, but il doesn't
operate well in America certainly not in
Springfield. This is a cOuntry-and we
have community here in Springfeld-in
which the individual citizen has come to
high state of development He is mental,
moral and political factor. He assumes to
think and act for himself. and il is conceded
that he may do 50 by everybody but the
Sir Oracles. He can read and write;
when public questions come up for consid-
Grafton. he thinks he can discern for him
self the meaning of words and the bearing
of principles. and if he doesn't know as
much as he would like to, he thinks he can
find ont what he needs to under
ments of facts, 10 courteous
discussion. to fair argument, Il anything in
the way of pretenSe or persuasion that is
dignified and decent, but when Sir Oracle
an obstreperouS and offensive manner, his
quickly-formed and crude sentiments, and
commands obedience. the individual citizen
assumes at once that a cause which requires
such a style of advocacy is not good one,
and therefore, that it ought not TO be sus-
tanned. And so the individual citizen eX
ercises and vindcates his constitutional
rights by refusing utterly to initiate his en-
tire internal organization with wind. sim
ply because Sir Oracle has teasted himself
with banquet of baked beans,
Then Sir Oracle looms and booms
People whose mental processes are SO slow
whose obstinancy prevents them from
Obeying, promptly, lis words OF command.
are opened upon with a battery of black
guardism All such persons, from Sir
Oracle's standpoint, are idiots and asses,
if not villains and scoundrels. He having
promptly taken his position, and he al
ways takes his position promptly. without
consideration and without regard 10 the
facts and merits of public questions, the
public must at once accept his dictum
without consideration OF examination,
simply because Sir Oracle has uttered it.
As matter of fact. the general public
are not idiots and asses. Thomas Carlyle
once said that England had nineteen
millions of people-moStIy fools. but he
was greatly mistaken. The masses in
America are usually and largely people of
sense. and the average Judgment of the pub
lie is usually right. The body of the people
contains more wisdom than any one indi-
vidual. There are few great men and
natural leaders. and they do good service
by presenting their opinions, which really
great men and well-qualitied leaders always
do, in courteous and consderate way. sub
mitting them for what they may prove to
be worth. They are not Sir OrarleS: they
are men of sense and character. to whom
the people look with respect and confidence.
They have attained epinence by
the exercise of mental strength and
by public service that as earned
for them place in public esteem. The Sir
Oracle. on the other hand. is a sort of self |